Uploaded May 2016 | Updated September 2026, 15 hours ago
This video (with poor sound...sorry) shows a klippe that is apparent in the outcrop pattern at the surface of an "eroded" model. You can identify this feature by examining the age relationships in the syncline I point out. Synclines should "young" towards their cores, meaning progressively younger strata are exposed moving toward the axis of the syncline (I use the term "young" or "younging towards the core" to communicate this idea). The syncline I point out is noteworthy because it is cored by material that is older than the strata exposed further out on its limbs. This relationship means that the material in the core of the syncline is not in stratigraphic contact with the strata below; the contact is a thrust fault contact, and the thrust has been folded after emplacement to produce the structural relief that leads to the formation of the klippe outcrop pattern with erosion. The colored layering, and the basic idea of age relationships in a sycnline, makes this klippe easy to see once it is pointed out. In the field, the geologist would rely on knowledge of the stratigraphy that is deformed in a given area along with possible metamorphic contrasts indicating that the klippe material is higher grade, and thus from deeper in the crust, than the rock surrounding it in the syncline.
This video (with poor sound...sorry) shows a klippe that is apparent in the outcrop pattern at the surface of an "eroded" model. You can identify this feature by examining the age relationships in the syncline I point out. Synclines should "young" towards their cores, meaning progressively younger strata are exposed moving toward the axis of the syncline (I use the term "young" or "younging towards the core" to communicate this idea). The syncline I point out is noteworthy because it is cored by material that is older than the strata exposed further out on its limbs. This relationship means that the material in the core of the syncline is not in stratigraphic contact with the strata below; the contact is a thrust fault contact, and the thrust has been folded after emplacement to produce the structural relief that leads to the formation of the klippe outcrop pattern with erosion. The colored layering, and the basic idea of age relationships in a sycnline, makes this klippe easy to see once it is pointed out. In the field, the geologist would rely on knowledge of the stratigraphy that is deformed in a given area along with possible metamorphic contrasts indicating that the klippe material is higher grade, and thus from deeper in the crust, than the rock surrounding it in the syncline.
